But there’s another reason Gillibrand shouldn’t reveal the name of the colleague who told her not to lose weight because “I like my girls chubby.” It’s a total power move. She knows who they are. They know she knows. Checkmate.

Which means somewhere on Capitol Hill, the hapless male Senator who called Gillibrand “porky” is probably cowering in his office, running that interaction in his head over and over again. “How can I spin this?” he’s thinking, “Could I make this about Michelle Obama’s fat-kids-thing? Could I say I was making a point about pork-barrel spending? Where is Olivia Pope when you need her?” Sweat is pouring off his brow, he’s wiping his forehead with his red-and-blue tie, he’s trying desperately to remember whether he pinched her arm or her butt that one time in the House gym. If Gillibrand exposes him, he’ll have a tough time winning over pretty big portion of the electorate: women (more than 50% of the U.S. population) and fat people (more than a third of all Americans.)

Suddenly, a text appears on his phone. “Hey Porker” and then, as a quick follow-up, “;)” He’s in Gillibrand’s house now.

That’s Charlotte Alter at Time, imagining Gillibrand blackmailing the mystery senator into supporting a bill to “protect contraceptive rights.” Could work, but why stop there? Why not blackmail him into supporting some especially stupid and wasteful pork projects for New York too? It’s convenient to this scenario to imagine her deploying her strategy only in service to selfless feminist or liberal causes rather than the more prosaic business that helps politicians get reelected. I strongly suspect she’s telling the truth about the “I like my girls chubby” incident; I also think government by blackmail is a bad idea, even when practiced at the expense of its more cretinous members.

Another argument from Amanda Marcotte is that it’s pointless for Gillibrand to name and shame the guy who harassed her because it’ll just devolve into a he-said-she-said thing and “people will take sides and tempers will flare” and she’ll be called a nutty slutty slut nut, etc etc etc. Show of hands: Anyone believe that? Some people will be skeptical of her story, it’s true; there are differences of opinion on every question in American political life. But Gillibrand’s extremely well positioned to have most people believe her. The sheer weight of the allegation, one U.S. senator accusing another of harassment, would suggest to fencesitters that it wasn’t made lightly. The media would be on her side too, as some of them have personal experience with this sort of thing from older male senators. And of course, partisan politics being what it is, Gillibrand would start with roughly 50 percent of the public backing her up depending upon which party the accused belongs to. Toss in the fact that voters hate Congress generally and have long memories about Bob Packwood and the “waitress sandwich” tandem of Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd and sure, Gillibrand’s claim seems entirely plausible. Why do you think news junkies took such an interest in it when the “chubby” incident was reported earlier this week?

The reason some lefties aren’t keen on her to name names, of course, is because the guy who allegedly harassed her is also allegedly one of her favorite senators, which implies that he’s a Democrat. And the very last thing Democrats need right now is a circular firing squad with two members of the party in the middle. Anyway, here are Scarborough and Brzezinski making the case that Gillibrand should, in fact, identify her harasser so that his constituents know what he’s up to and so that other women in and around the Senate don’t have to put up with the same nonsense going forward. How many aides and pages has this guy harassed while Gillibrand was keeping the “chubby” anecdote close to the vest? At the very least, if she’s resolved not to confront this person publicly, she could have had it leaked to the media to put the guy on everyone’s radar and then issued a perfunctory denial so that it couldn’t be traced back to her. Why include it in her book at all if she’s only going to cover for him by not naming him? If anything, that signals that it was really no big deal, an infraction that was annoying but not so alarming as to warrant the public’s full attention.

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Political capital only has value if you spend it, and it has a short shelf life.

She should also bear in mind that she almost certainly not his first victim and won’t be his last. Unlike most of the others (interns? staff?) he may have harassed, she will get the benefit of the doubt.

Another argument from Amanda Marcotte is that it’s pointless for Gillibrand to name and shame the guy who harassed her because it’ll just devolve into a he-said-she-said thing and “people will take sides and tempers will flare” and she’ll be called a nutty slutty slut nut, etc etc etc. Show of hands: Anyone believe that?

Scumhag Marcotte’s tiny head would have by now exploded if a R would have said that.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s disrespectful,” Pelosi said on Thursday during a press call on Democrats’ economic agenda. “Some of it, I think, might — I don’t know who the people are who said the things they said — but let’s hope it is generational and will fade away. I thank her for her strength in shining a light on it.” — Pelosi

Why include it in her book at all if she’s only going to cover for him by not naming him? If anything, that signals that it was really no big deal, an infraction that was annoying but not so alarming as to warrant the public’s full attention.

Sometimes the stupidity of women makes me shake my head. Calling someone – especially a woman – porky is rude, disrespectful and hurful. However to suggest that it amounts to harrassement seems like overkill. Someone who has been elected a US Senator should not be such a fainting drama quees that she can not tell a coworker when they have stepped over the line.

Of course I thought I read somewhere that she lost 50+lbs? If that is true she was not chubby – she was fat.

Kirsten, get your @hit together and shut up. You’re making a fool of yourself. And one would reasonably expect that you would have better things to do with your time (paid by taxpayers) than whine and complain.

Baby, you may think you have come far, but you’re stuck in a ’70’s rut.

If you can’t put up with a few perceived insults and get beyond it, retire and join the hags at NOW. The rest of us have done better than this, and anyone who pretends to be a “leader” is required to do much more than whine and threaten.

Why is it that we never seem to hear these complaints from conservative women? Sarah Palin endured far more and put up a fight.

I thought about that. The presence she’s pretending to have is why I’m waxing all “make me a sandwich.” Schad’s Pelosi quote:

“It’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s disrespectful,” Pelosi said on Thursday during a press call on Democrats’ economic agenda. “Some of it, I think, might — I don’t know who the people are who said the things they said — but let’s hope it is generational and will fade away. I thank her for her strength in shining a light on it.”

— Pelosi

–blah blah “strength,” “disrespectful.” Just because a woman puts on a power skirt doesn’t mean she’s worthy of respect. Just because she can get herself into Congress doesn’t either — I’m thinking of Boxer dressing down a military officer who craps bigger than her.

Also, people should be able to hit on each other without being told they are committing crimes. I’m on a Jihad. If people don’t want their male Congress critters slavering over women, don’t elect slavering men.

Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

Whatever. Gillibrand is a typical liberal, a typical democrat – unless she is going to be forthcoming with names, then there is no reason to believe anything she says. Gillibrand can drag this silliness out, and wallow in self-pity for as long as she likes, but …tick-tock-tick-tock … with every passing minute, she loses more credibility.

My only concern about Kirsten Gillibrand is that she is a typical bald-faced Democrat liar, who got elected as a supposed pro-gun-rights “moderate”, only to vote the straight party line on gun control.

Why do idiots in red- and purple-states and districts continue to fall for this “moderate Blue Dog Democrat” line, anyway? Haven’t you figured out by now that this is just a bait-and-switch, and once in office, the Democrat will always–always–vote in lockstep with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama when anything really important is on the line?

Oh, well, I guess that’s an argument for another day.

As far as Gillibrand and her supposed “harassment” at the hands of another senator, I literally could not care less. She’s a big girl, right? Let her handle her own interpersonal issues since she’s so tough.

Should Kirsten Gillibrand name the senator who told her “I like my girls chubby”?

That’s why Mary Landrieu is still around. How many chubby girl Senators do they need?

I guess this guy was really heartbroken when Shrillary left the Senate … though being shaped like a Weeble doesn’t make her chubby, per se … just Weeble-like. And Shrillary hasn’t been considered a “girl” for some 12 decades, now. Even in college, not many people immediately recognized Shrillary as a girl.

And we don’t even know how accurate this quote is. He might well have said, “I like girls on my chubby,” in which case I would think it was good ol’ BJ Clinton slinking around the Senate.

The reason some lefties aren’t keen on her to name names, of course, is because the guy who allegedly harassed her is also allegedly one of her favorite senators, which implies that he’s a Democrat.

BINGO!!!!!!!!

The lefties don’t give a damn about who said it because they don’t care that he said it – he’s one of the “good guys” and he can say whatever he damn well pleases (until he starts hurting them, that is).

Just one more example of how the left doesn’t really care about the things they spout, they’re just useful implements for bashing their enemies.

somewhere on Capitol Hill, the hapless male Senator who called Gillibrand “porky” is probably cowering in his office, running that interaction in his head over and over again

If Charlotte Alter of Time really thinks that this is true, then she’s even more delusional than the average run-of-the-mill prog.

We’re talking about a political party that has made wagon-circling into a f*cking art form. Hate to break this to you, delusional feminist moron, but the only thing that a Democrat won’t be forgiven for is rape or murder, and even THAT is conditional on how easy it is to spin it.

If this were a Republican senator, there would be months of pearl-clutching and national-dialoging about how far into the pit of slime the GOP has fallen. However, since it’s a Dem, it will be forgotten withing milliseconds.

It almost has to be a Democrat, and a powerful on at that. Otherwise she would have sang like a bird. And I would hazard to guess that it is a Dem that is up for election in a state that the seat is a toss up or even threatened. After all we cannot let a scumbag Rep win and possibly give control of the senate to the Reps.

If the Sen. who said this had the brains of a newt, he would come out and admit it. Then spin it to the “we have enough women with eating disorders and trying to look pencil thin blah, blah, — you get my drift.

And I never fail to be amazed that these women who have been harassed by these pols do not haul off and smack the snot out of them. At one time a woman would have slapped any male who made an unwanted suggestion to them.

(and is anyone else having trouble with the preview button not working — sorry for any typos.)

Of course she should say who…she’s got no business speaking about sexual harassment otherwise if she doesn’t. What message is that sending, that it’s OK not to come forward if you can blackmail the person and/or advance your agenda better if you don’t?

So what if this is all a setup and one of her favorite senators is a Republican and she names him and it fits into their war on women meme right before the election. Careful what you wish for AP. Personally, I don’t care if it happened or who she says it was.

Sexual harassment laws are specifically directed to the actions of middle aged, white, Republican guys only. (See, for example, Bill Clinton’s immunity to them.) I think it says that right in the laws themselves.

Whoever he is, he probably genuinely doesn’t remember saying it. Those kind of guys say tons of offensive things day in and day out to many women– it’s just part of normal discourse to them. He has no reason to remember just one more stupid thing he said to one of the girls.

It seems the senator who referred to her as “my girls” was in aplace of power over her. This could definitely be Harry Reid or even Joe Biden. I know at least one of the offenders was Teddy Kennedy. (They did serve a couple of months together in the Senate before his death) Seeing he is dead, SHE would be seen as nasty by besmirching a dead man and she definitely wouldn’t want the Kennedy Klan after her.

This all comes down to this: I don’t see that it could have been ANY GOPers involved - she couldn’t name one and then not another plus all the possible GOPers were already gone.

My Trifecta solution: All Democrats with my highest wager on Kennedy, then Biden, then Reid.

Sexual harassment laws are specifically directed to the actions of middle aged, white, Republican guys only. (See, for example, Bill Clinton’s immunity to them.) I think it says that right in the laws themselves.